The U.S. Army is sending its first small, vertical-launch Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) to Iraq in response to a joint operational needs statement from the combat zone calling for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, service officials said.
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey "listened to soldiers, and 30 MAVs are on their way to Baghdad two weeks from now," said Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright, program manager for Future Combat Systems (FCS).
The 40-pound UAV is one of a series of FCS technologies being accelerated to the war zone.
Made by Honeywell, the 1.5-foot vehicle has fixed side- and downward-view electrooptical and infrared cameras, and soon will have a gimbal-mounted camera and a laser designator.
The MAV had been with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and is now testing with Army Evaluation Task Force soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.
"The soldiers often tell us which [technologies] we need to go to war with. That is what is driving this. Not every technology becomes available at the same time," Cartwright said.
In Iraq, the MAVs will go to infantry units on patrol.
"[The MAV] will search for [improvised explosive devices] and conduct route patrols, kind of like Navy [explosive ordnance disposal technicians]," Cartwright said. "Engineers will use them to plan routes and work with small robots. The Navy taught us how to work with small robots and use the UAV to share data."
The MAVs being sent to Iraq will not be fully integrated into the emerging FCS network. However, recent FCS lab tests were able to move data and video through the MAV using the high-bandwidth Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) designed for the FCS network. This was a large breakthrough, as prior to this test, SRW primarily traveled only through small, fixed FCS sensors called the Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS).
The goal of the FCS network is to quickly move large amounts of information across a force using software-programmable radios called Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS), satellites and high-bandwith wave forms such as SRW.
Cartwright was enthusiastic about the FCS lab tests, as they mark a crucial next step in the development of the emerging FCS network.
"The MAV ran JTRS radios with SRW waveform down through the UGS gateway to the B-kit that is on the Humvee and displaying the video," Cartwright said. "We did this in the lab. We just proved it out and it will soon go to [Fort Bliss, Texas]. We've already moved the video through the bird with SRW."
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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